one does start to wonder about the mind-set of some of these cops. it's not clear from that article why they stopped the deaf guy in the first place - since he had his friend's permission, one presumes they didn't catch him climbing out a window or otherwise looking like he was burgling the place.

it's all seriously disturbing.

I've been stopped for no apparent reason while going for a jog on a public road.
They IDed me, made me stand around for five-ten minutes while they checked on some things and waited for a call back from the station, and then let me go.

I'm still not entirely sure why they stopped me.

This has happened twice. The second time I think they were just worried about me, though? It was dark and there was nobody else on the road, and I'd been sprinting. I dunno.
All of my encounters with the police have seemed rather pointless._________________butts

one does start to wonder about the mind-set of some of these cops. it's not clear from that article why they stopped the deaf guy in the first place - since he had his friend's permission, one presumes they didn't catch him climbing out a window or otherwise looking like he was burgling the place.

it's all seriously disturbing.

It's almost like the power goes to their heads... and they like being able to do this shit with a rubber stamp of approval on whatever they do and the knowledge they'll never have to face the consequences...

Teenager answers a knock at the door with a Wii remote in his hand, cop shoots him dead.

HE HAS A WHITE RECTANGLE THING, KILL HIM.

Shit just keeps making less sense.

Quote:

Neighbor Ken Yates said he saw the female officer moments after the fatal shot.

ďThis is tragic. She came out of this house. She put her head in her hands and she was sobbing. Supposedly, he opened the door with a BB gun and in my opinion I think he was playing a game with his neighborhood buddies,Ē said Yates.

Aww Looks like an honest mistake, one that sadly had more repercussion._________________Home is where the bra isn't.

It still begs the question of why he wasn't told to drop it, and why the officer was incapable of discerning a toy gun with buttons from a real gun in the space of time from the boy answering the door, to the police officer unholstering their handgun, aiming, and firing, although I think most likely in this case the officer had their handgun unholstered prior to the door being opened, which would be another question entirely. And that's assuming the kid was even using a gun-shaped Wii remote, which we don't know.

Speaking of Kiev, does anyone have anything summarizing each sides' politics and stuff?
Like, who supports what, where the previous political parties have fallen, what happened to cause it.

Also, I read a rumor somewhere that one of the major factions in the protests uses a Swastika as one of their symbols, which might just be a rumor but I want to check...

I just haven't found anything.

About 5 or 6 pages ago me and Him were debating this. There are right-wing nationalist parties (who could be described as neo-nazis), but I argued they weren't a major faction in the protests, while Him argued they were.

As for summarizing Ukrainian politics... Some big parties, and lots of little parties. Up until 2011, They formed up into large voting blocks, generally running along left/center/right lines. In 2011 participation of voting blocs in parliament was banned. The main parties are The Party Of Regions, which was ex-president Viktor Yanukovych's party, which is a centrist Pro-Russian party, the Fatherland Party, which was led by Yulia Tymoshenko and is a Liberal-Conservative, Pro-EU party that is center-right, the UDAR, which is led by Vitali Klitschko (who was active in the protests) and is a center-right, anti-corruption, liberalist party, the Freedom (Svoboda) party, which is right-far-right Ukrainian Nationalist party (also visible in the protests), and the Communist party, which is a Far-Left Marxist-Leninist party.

Stats and info are from here, although they should probably be taken with a grain of salt because of alleged widespread voting fraud.

Also, latest news says that Oleksandr Turchynov of the Fatherland Party has been elected speaker of the Rada and is currently acting a president following the fleeing and impeachment of Viktor Yanukovych, and Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister and head of opposition for the former Social Democrat/Republican/Fatherland voting bloc has been released from custody.

I'm hoping Tymoshenko will make a bid for president, or perhaps Viktor Yushchenko, although he said he would be running in the next election._________________Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while, I think I see my brother coming, riding many a mile.

Also, the wiki link, because (although it took me a while, because the only mention of it was in the category stuff at the bottom), now I finally know the actual name of these protests. (Euromaidan. Also, there's the book length wikipedia page we've come to expect for every protest nowadays. (Plus-also-that-sounds-like-a-heavy-metal-band--I'm-a-bad-person-I'm-so-sorry.) )

No, the Communist Party is an, at best, left populist, russophone pro-Kremlin Party. During these protests they have demonstrated that more than ever, throwing out previously held opposition to the government and defendiung bans on demonstrations etc (on top of arguing for a Ukraine-Belarus-Russia-Kazakhstan bloc as a military and economic alternative to the EU).

Also you forgot about the Right Sector. From a Guardian op-ed in december:
"The Right Sector militants did not appear from nowhere, although many media and liberal protesters preferred to ignore their existence. They were active participants in the protest from the very beginning, interested not so much in European association as the "national revolution". They efficiently infiltrated the volunteer guards of the tent camps."

M: [...]One of the worst things is that Pravy[The Right Sector] has this official structure. They are coordinated. You need passes to go certain places. They have the power to give or not give people permission to be active. Weíre trying to be active but we have to avoid Nazis, and Iím not going to ask a Nazi for permission!

S: A group of 100 anarchists tried to arrange their own self-defense group, different Anarchist groups came together for a meeting on the Maidan. While they were meeting a group of Nazis came in a larger group, they had axes and baseball bats and sticks, helmets, they said it was their territory. They called the Anarchists things like Jews, blacks, Communists. There werenít even any Communists, that was just an insult. The Anarchists werenít expecting this and they left. People with other political views canít stay in certain places, they arenít tolerated.

_________________A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want? ~Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

No, the Communist Party is an, at best, left populist, russophone pro-Kremlin Party. During these protests they have demonstrated that more than ever, throwing out previously held opposition to the government and defendiung bans on demonstrations etc (on top of arguing for a Ukraine-Belarus-Russia-Kazakhstan bloc as a military and economic alternative to the EU).

Also you forgot about the Right Sector. From a Guardian op-ed in december:
"The Right Sector militants did not appear from nowhere, although many media and liberal protesters preferred to ignore their existence. They were active participants in the protest from the very beginning, interested not so much in European association as the "national revolution". They efficiently infiltrated the volunteer guards of the tent camps."

M: [...]One of the worst things is that Pravy[The Right Sector] has this official structure. They are coordinated. You need passes to go certain places. They have the power to give or not give people permission to be active. Weíre trying to be active but we have to avoid Nazis, and Iím not going to ask a Nazi for permission!

S: A group of 100 anarchists tried to arrange their own self-defense group, different Anarchist groups came together for a meeting on the Maidan. While they were meeting a group of Nazis came in a larger group, they had axes and baseball bats and sticks, helmets, they said it was their territory. They called the Anarchists things like Jews, blacks, Communists. There werenít even any Communists, that was just an insult. The Anarchists werenít expecting this and they left. People with other political views canít stay in certain places, they arenít tolerated.

And a couple other quotes from that interview with AFA Ukraine:

Quote:

No one has any idea how this could turn out, what form a new government could take. The fascist groups donít have common aims, they know what theyíre opposed to, and that theyíre opposed to each other, but they donít all want the same things. If Pravy has positions in a new government that would be really dangerous but that isnít possible, they arenít powerful enough.

Quote:

M: These nationalists are here not for rights but for nation and itís practical for leaders to encourage this, because a focus on nationalism lets them do whatever they want. Itís mostly working class and poor people at EuroMaidan, and their attention needs to be diverted to real problems. Lots of people want to manipulate the people here.

Also, lol, anarchists._________________Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while, I think I see my brother coming, riding many a mile.

No, the Communist Party is an, at best, left populist, russophone pro-Kremlin Party. During these protests they have demonstrated that more than ever, throwing out previously held opposition to the government and defendiung bans on demonstrations etc (on top of arguing for a Ukraine-Belarus-Russia-Kazakhstan bloc as a military and economic alternative to the EU).

Also you forgot about the Right Sector. From a Guardian op-ed in december:
"The Right Sector militants did not appear from nowhere, although many media and liberal protesters preferred to ignore their existence. They were active participants in the protest from the very beginning, interested not so much in European association as the "national revolution". They efficiently infiltrated the volunteer guards of the tent camps."

M: [...]One of the worst things is that Pravy[The Right Sector] has this official structure. They are coordinated. You need passes to go certain places. They have the power to give or not give people permission to be active. Weíre trying to be active but we have to avoid Nazis, and Iím not going to ask a Nazi for permission!

S: A group of 100 anarchists tried to arrange their own self-defense group, different Anarchist groups came together for a meeting on the Maidan. While they were meeting a group of Nazis came in a larger group, they had axes and baseball bats and sticks, helmets, they said it was their territory. They called the Anarchists things like Jews, blacks, Communists. There werenít even any Communists, that was just an insult. The Anarchists werenít expecting this and they left. People with other political views canít stay in certain places, they arenít tolerated.

And a couple other quotes from that interview with AFA Ukraine:

Quote:

No one has any idea how this could turn out, what form a new government could take. The fascist groups donít have common aims, they know what theyíre opposed to, and that theyíre opposed to each other, but they donít all want the same things. If Pravy has positions in a new government that would be really dangerous but that isnít possible, they arenít powerful enough.

Quote:

M: These nationalists are here not for rights but for nation and itís practical for leaders to encourage this, because a focus on nationalism lets them do whatever they want. Itís mostly working class and poor people at EuroMaidan, and their attention needs to be diverted to real problems. Lots of people want to manipulate the people here.

Also, lol, anarchists.

Yes lol at people who take part in the protest movement actually opposing fascists instead of cheering them on by extension, or at the very least downright ignoring the threat they pose. but I suppose you know better than people actually at Maidan. Also, like I alluded to before, Jobbik are not in government in Hungary and yet they've gotten much of their vicious racist stuff through, and the ukrainian fascists have significantly more momentum._________________A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want? ~Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray